Letters

The S.C. Foster Parent Association would like to thank everyone who donated vehicles to its On the Road Again program. This program provides transportation for foster youth who are 18 but not yet 21, actively employed and pursuing a GED or post-high school educational program.
Without a vehicle, young people must rely on public transportation to get them to and from work or school.
Unfortunately, public transportation is not available in many rural areas of South Carolina.

One of the main reasons I am proud to call South Carolina home is its landscape. Few states can boast of beaches on one end and mountains on the other with numerous parks and green space in between.
But our land, one of our greatest strengths, has the potential to be fundamentally altered should the so-called “flow control” bill pass in our Legislature.
Formally known as H 3290, the bill would open up South Carolina to become the nation’s dumping ground.

If you live in Lancaster County, you are paying high property taxes and putting up with lousy services today because for 10 years, your County Council has approved virtually every residential development request to come before it.
This has been done without any thought given to where the roads, schools, police, fire, EMS, libraries, etc. are coming from to support these people.
More than 11,000 homes have been approved in Indian Land over the last 10 years, although fewer than 7,000 have been built and been occupied.

This is a response to U.S. Rep. Mick Mulvaney’s letters in the Lancaster News on Oct,16, “Shutdown really a ‘slowdown,’” and Oct. 30, “Congressmen question Sebelius about healthcare.gov failures.”
In these letters, Mr. Mulvaney questioned Secretary Kathleen Sebelius about problems with the Affordable Care Act website. He emphasized that the law was passed in 2010 giving the government three years to have the website operational by October 2013.

On Oct. 31, Morphis Pediatric Group participated in the Boo-Fun-Fest in downtown Lancaster with games and prizes. This is a very worthwhile endeavor in that it keeps so many of our children off the streets and away from traffic on Halloween night.
Our hats are off to the committee that made this a reality.
Again on Nov. 1, we were offered a chance to be a sponsor for the production of “A Tribute to Our Veterans” at Bundy Auditorium to honor our active duty and our veterans of our armed services.

For many children across South Carolina, literacy is a problem. Reach Out and Read prepares children to succeed in school by partnering with doctors, nurse practitioners and other medical professionals who then encourage parents to read regularly with their children and distribute free, developmentally- and culturally-appropriate books.
The Reach Out and Read program works with families of children from 6 months to 5 years of age at each well-child checkup, with a special emphasis on children growing up in low-income communities.

Sept. 28, was a fantastic day at HOPE in Lancaster, thanks to a special group of people.
On that Saturday morning, the S.C. Chapter of the Widows Sons Masonic Riders Association met at the Barron Lodge in Heath Springs.
From that point, the riders traveled around Lancaster County to lodges that had food donations ready for pick-up.
Their stops for the day included Flat Rock, Macedonia, Wannamaker, Camp Creek, Indian Land and Jackson lodges.
The last stop of the day was HOPE, where the donations were unloaded and hauled into the food pantry.

About 8 p.m. Monday, Oct. 28, God sent an angel to Murphy Express on S.C. 9 Bypass to help us in the midst of our tragedy – the stabbing death of my sister, Elaine Ghent, and my dad, Roddey Ghent, being released from the hospital.
We do not know who this gentleman was, but God knows. We want to thank you for helping us.
May God bless you. God does make a way when life seems to knock you down.
Thank you again for being our special angel.

The story, “Residents not pleased with IL school traffic plans,” in the Nov. 3 edition of The Lancaster News, is yet another example of gripes by the citizenry of Indian Land. Does anything suit them?
Gosh, I thought the folks coming to Sun City and other developments were old folks, who amassed fortunes from good-paying jobs and selling their old home places.
Thought those folks just moved South to a new home in a gated community and were just sitting back awaiting the next dividend check or attending meetings in the Del Webb Library.

This letter is in response to U.S. Rep. Mick Mulvaney’s column, “Shutdown is really a slowdown,” in the Oct. 16 edition of The Lancaster News. You’re still pointing fingers and blaming President Barack Obama when there are always two sides to everything. The blame belongs to the tea party Republicans who are really trying to take over the Republican Party. Where division is there confusion lives.